Suchergebnisse

The Return of the Dead

Just as anthropologists recognized, with Tylor in 1871, that the concepts of death and culture were closely related, they set aside the treatment of the dead in Western Europe so that they could ignore the raging debate on the soul and afterlife. This paper examines the situations in which the occidental dead "come back". This renewed recognition is fully effective only when Christian afterlife is taken under consideration, as with, for instance, the difficult birth of Purgatory. Historical and contemporary anthropology can then reflect upon the rich modalities of an exchange which, in recently studied rural societies of Southern Europe restores all its ordered complexity to the social use of the dead.

Based on examples in Palestine and Chechnya, this article questions the feminine practices of "martyrdom" in the contemporary international scene. Gender is being revealed as an extra element for the analysis of situations in which the economic, political and partially religious factors are still central and connected. The appearance of a culture of death is destabilizing the analysis commonly admitted and leads to approach these new social facts through a theory of action. (Maghreb-Machrek/GIGA)

Advancing the risk culture and taking it into account in urban planning requires the memory of risk. A fundamental area, but little consideration, on which the author offers insights. Since the early 2000s, France has suffered 670 natural disasters (Ubyrisk, 2011), the human cost of which amounts to 15 000 deaths — the 2003 heatwave is very much in this balance sheet — and the economic cost is EUR 30 billion. With these figures, recalled on 3 May 2011 before the senators, Alain Anziani and Bruno Retailleau, rapporteurs of a draft law designed to take better account of the risk of marine submersion, in particular the French people have no risk culture, unlike the Netherlands and the Japanese. In fact, the understanding of the risk is paradoxical. The risk absorbs all our attention in the immediate news, when a very tangible disaster reminds us that the risk exists. But it only becomes a probability (the risk is the product of a hazard and vulnerability), largely ignored, over a long period of time. The absence of a memory of events is therefore at the root of the absence of a culture of risk. It is this area of risk remembrance, which is still too often neglected, which this article proposes to highlight. ; International audience ; Advancing the risk culture and taking it into account in urban planning requires the memory of risk. A fundamental area, but little consideration, on which the author offers insights. Since the early 2000s, France has suffered 670 natural disasters (Ubyrisk, 2011), the human cost of which amounts to 15 000 deaths — the 2003 heatwave is very much in this balance sheet — and the economic cost is EUR 30 billion. With these figures, recalled on 3 May 2011 before the senators, Alain Anziani and Bruno Retailleau, rapporteurs of a draft law designed to take better account of the risk of marine submersion, in particular the French people have no risk culture, unlike the Netherlands and the Japanese. In fact, the understanding of the risk is paradoxical. The risk absorbs all our attention in ...

Which is the other bank ?
The following ideas have been presented at the tenth anniversary of the meetings of the "Laboratoire de Sociologie de la Culture Européenne de Strasbourg" and the "Ludwig-Uhland Institut" in Tübingen.
From a question of Claudio Magris : "The other bank of the river ? Who is on the other bank ?" emerges a dialectic of identity and otherness. Theoretically, three constellations are possible :
-I live on one bank and know the other bank.
-I am situated between the two banks.
-I am on my way to the other bank and no return is possible.
Living on one bank of the river, one can consider the other bank with indifference, ignorance, hatred, tolerance, sympathy and even empathy.
Living in the middle, is putting oneself between two cultures, no longer knowing who one is, and where one stands. Young immigrants try to solve the problem by choosing either to keep their former culture, or to assimilate to the new one. Often, they build up their own culture, between two worlds.
The third constellation is the passage from one bank to the other, with no return, illustrated by the image of death.

if the death of literature is not a fact but a representation, there is no need to diagnose a crisis or death to try to find the conditions for a return to health or life. It is better to limit its ambition to assess the fertility of such a representation: what does it produce? What ideas do you think? What perceptions do you see? The example used (the study by Lacrimosa, the novel of Régis Jauffret) illustrates the case where this representation ceases to be productive: it is no longer a stimulus to creation but an alibi — a bad faith device. But then why do we look at failure? On the small scale where he appears, he illuminates one of the illnesses of 'our time' to speak like the bourgeois of Flaubert: the strange alliance of cynism and depression. Although it is found in a few cantons of the French literary world, more generally, according to Cornélius Castoriadis, it characterises the state of the world and culture in the West. File May 2009LHT No 6 Stéphane Chaudier and Julian Négrel Le Stabat Mater de Régis Jauffret: what kind of literature? 1 a tomb, in the past, was a praise. A beautiful monument was built to honour a beautiful work; the virtues of death grasped the lively. Today, it seems that this metaphor — "dumblers for literature" (not "literature") — is rather understood as an indictment: it is the literature that is buried and humiliated. But is it a dead or a living that is buried? Depending on the answer given to this question, the tombeau will be, or will not be, legitimate. ; International audience ; if the death of literature is not a fact but a representation, there is no need to diagnose a crisis or death to try to find the conditions for a return to health or life. It is better to limit its ambition to assess the fertility of such a representation: what does it produce? What ideas do you think? What perceptions do you see? The example used (the study by Lacrimosa, the novel of Régis Jauffret) illustrates the case where this representation ceases to be productive: it is no longer a stimulus ...

Cet article examine comment la légitimation de l'« État nouveau » en Espagne fut fondée sur la guerre, dès l'été 1936. Celle-ci fut présentée comme bellum iustum, apportant une causa justa à la rébellion militaire, conduite par le don et la grâce charismatiques de son Caudillo Francisco Franco, et défendue par le sang des « martyrs » et de ceux tombés au combat (caídos) pour la patrie. Une fois installée dans la durée, elle devait s'achever par la destruction totale de l'ennemi, sa dévalorisation morale et sa déshumanisation. La propagation de ces représentations a forgé une culture de guerre, constitutive de l'identité collective de l'España nacional, opposée à l'anti-Espagne. Dans la construction de cette culture de guerre, l'institutionnalisation du culte de la mort ainsi que le transfert d'éléments dogmatiques, liturgiques et rituels du christianisme à la politique furent essentiels. ; This article examines how the war, as early as the summer of 1936, was used to legitimise Spain's "New State". The war was framed as a bellum justum (just war) and provided a causa justa (just cause) for the military rebellion led by its caudillo, the charismatic Francisco Franco, and defended by the blood of its "martyrs" and those fallen (caídos) in battle. Once it took root, this war was designed to end with the total destruction, moral devalorisation and dehumanisation of the enemy. The spread of these forms of representation created a culture of war used to construct the collective identity of a "national" Spain, in opposition to the "anti-Spain". The institutionalisation of a death cult, as well as the transfer of dogmatic, liturgical and ritual elements from the Christian to the political repertoire, were essential for the construction of this culture of war.

International audience ; L'automobile a trouvé en Amérique sa terre d'élection au point d'engendrer une automobile culture caractérisée, entre autres, par ce qu'on a appelé le "facteur M" de la civilisation américaine ("M" pour mouvement, migration, mobilité). On peut donc soutenir avec J. Baudrillard que « L'intelligence de la société américaine réside tout entière dans une anthropologie des mœurs automobiles – bien plus instructives que les idées politiques ». La fiction (notamment le genre spécifique appelé road fiction) a multiplié les usages singuliers de l'automobile et révélé à quel point elle fait partie intégrante de l'American way of life [& death]. À travers l'analyse d'une douzaine d'œuvres exemplaires, cet essai retrace les divers usages que la littérature américaine a pu faire du thème de l'automobile, qui est, à l'évidence, une des sources inépuisables de son originalité, de son dynamisme et de sa vitalité.

International audience ; L'automobile a trouvé en Amérique sa terre d'élection au point d'engendrer une automobile culture caractérisée, entre autres, par ce qu'on a appelé le "facteur M" de la civilisation américaine ("M" pour mouvement, migration, mobilité). On peut donc soutenir avec J. Baudrillard que « L'intelligence de la société américaine réside tout entière dans une anthropologie des mœurs automobiles – bien plus instructives que les idées politiques ». La fiction (notamment le genre spécifique appelé road fiction) a multiplié les usages singuliers de l'automobile et révélé à quel point elle fait partie intégrante de l'American way of life [& death]. À travers l'analyse d'une douzaine d'œuvres exemplaires, cet essai retrace les divers usages que la littérature américaine a pu faire du thème de l'automobile, qui est, à l'évidence, une des sources inépuisables de son originalité, de son dynamisme et de sa vitalité.

The name of Guy Debord remains associated with the memory of May 68, both as an event and as a collective adventure. In fact, May lives in the situationist international (IS), of which Debord had been one of the main facilitators, reaching the top of its historical influence and action. For several years now, the IS, having proclaimed the death of art and literature, had in fact shifted its action from culture to politics, promoting the fight against the performing society and the revolution of everyday life. However, Debord's name also evokes an opposite trajectory, that of a man who, after being one of the main figures of political sedition, withdrew from literature from the late 1970s and gradually turned into a fascinating memorialist that he would eventually be regarded as one of the major writers of the second half of the last century. In order to shed light on the reasons for this surprising contrast, in which we wanted to see a change, this article will reflect ahead and downstream of the 68 event. Upstream, in order to observe how the conviction that literary forms had expired historically could have led the IS to refuse to use and register in the world of letters, on the contrary, formulating the draft of an anonymous and collective statement combined with the social praxis; downstream, in order to see how Debord, having precisely abandoned the philosophy of history underlying these concepts, came to see this in the return to literary, not a regression, but a last resort to what he called 'the bad time'. ; International audience ; The name of Guy Debord remains associated with the memory of May 68, both as an event and as a collective adventure. In fact, May lives in the situationist international (IS), of which Debord had been one of the main facilitators, reaching the top of its historical influence and action. For several years now, the IS, having proclaimed the death of art and literature, had in fact shifted its action from culture to politics, promoting the fight against the performing society ...

The abolition of the death penalty has now become one of the fundamental values of European civilization. Our research will be in the axis of a comparative study between the six founding countries of the current EU. The history and culture common to these six states led to what today is all European citizens, the living entity almost indefinable territory in search of multiple identity, but abolitionist. How are they actually able to impose such a clause morality, within their own institutions to the heart of the legislative union, ie to the point where abolition becomes a sine qua non of entry into the EU? By the uniqueness and cross deflected by the European national histories is what we today reached this understanding effective? What were the architects of this thought: men, networks, political or ideological movements? And why they became involved in such a cause? Their commitment Europeanist he was inseparable from abolitionism, and vice versa? The history of the death penalty and its abolition is part of the history and philosophy of law, history of mentalities, political science and what might be called the civic history. The latter corresponds to the fundamental ideological company law, it is the mark of belonging to the same community in the service of the same nation or ideals. The abolition of capital punishment is the work of particular men, but all belonging to a national context, whether economic, social, cultural or legal. Our study can be meaningful only in terms of all of these many factors. ; L'abolition de la peine de mort est aujourd'hui devenue une des valeurs fondamentales de la civilisation européenne. Nos recherches se feront sous l'axe d'une étude comparée entre les six pays fondateurs de l'actuelle Union Européenne. L'histoire et la culture communes à ces six États ont abouti à ce qu'aujourd'hui tout européen est le citoyen, l'habitant d'une entité quasi indéfinissable, d'un territoire multiple en recherche d'identité, mais abolitionniste. Comment concrètement sont-ils parvenus à ...

The abolition of the death penalty has now become one of the fundamental values of European civilization. Our research will be in the axis of a comparative study between the six founding countries of the current EU. The history and culture common to these six states led to what today is all European citizens, the living entity almost indefinable territory in search of multiple identity, but abolitionist. How are they actually able to impose such a clause morality, within their own institutions to the heart of the legislative union, ie to the point where abolition becomes a sine qua non of entry into the EU? By the uniqueness and cross deflected by the European national histories is what we today reached this understanding effective? What were the architects of this thought: men, networks, political or ideological movements? And why they became involved in such a cause? Their commitment Europeanist he was inseparable from abolitionism, and vice versa? The history of the death penalty and its abolition is part of the history and philosophy of law, history of mentalities, political science and what might be called the civic history. The latter corresponds to the fundamental ideological company law, it is the mark of belonging to the same community in the service of the same nation or ideals. The abolition of capital punishment is the work of particular men, but all belonging to a national context, whether economic, social, cultural or legal. Our study can be meaningful only in terms of all of these many factors. ; L'abolition de la peine de mort est aujourd'hui devenue une des valeurs fondamentales de la civilisation européenne. Nos recherches se feront sous l'axe d'une étude comparée entre les six pays fondateurs de l'actuelle Union Européenne. L'histoire et la culture communes à ces six États ont abouti à ce qu'aujourd'hui tout européen est le citoyen, l'habitant d'une entité quasi indéfinissable, d'un territoire multiple en recherche d'identité, mais abolitionniste. Comment concrètement sont-ils parvenus à ...

Among the joyals that can be found on the internet, YouTube gives a conference given in Budapest on 7 April 1990 by Vilém Flusser, the most generous founding grandfather of mediology, just a few months before his death. According to a rather common discourse at the time, he described the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime as a sign of a new situation in the culture of images, sanctioning the advent of a 'post-historical' era in which television took control of reality. During this 24-minute speech, which summarises some of the thesis developed throughout his career, Flusser offers a contrast between events and events on which I will rely to shed light on a number of issues of media rhythm. By bounding on quotes from this document, I would like to suggest that our political agentivity deserves to be designed not only in terms of rhythm, but also in the "metre" of poetic versification (Alexandrin, octosylle), in an effort to assert the driving force from a necessarily biased but nevertheless resonant point of view. ; International audience ; Among the joyals that can be found on the internet, YouTube gives a conference given in Budapest on 7 April 1990 by Vilém Flusser, the most generous founding grandfather of mediology, just a few months before his death. According to a rather common discourse at the time, he described the overthrow of the Ceausescu regime as a sign of a new situation in the culture of images, sanctioning the advent of a 'post-historical' era in which television took control of reality. During this 24-minute speech, which summarises some of the thesis developed throughout his career, Flusser offers a contrast between events and events on which I will rely to shed light on a number of issues of media rhythm. By bounding on quotes from this document, I would like to suggest that our political agentivity deserves to be designed not only in terms of rhythm, but also in the "metre" of poetic versification (Alexandrin, octosylle), in an effort to assert the driving force from a necessarily biased but ...

Wayan Gandera and the Hidden History of Gamelan Gong Kebyar
In 2002 the notorious but celebrated Balinese gamelan drummer and composer Wayan Gandera passed away at the age of 69. His last musical act, months before his death, was by far his most stunning : he taught the members of Çudamani, the dynamic young gamelan collective of Pengosekan – a village close to his own home community of Peliatan – a pair of complex modern compositions that he had confined to the secrecy of his memory for almost 40 years. Why did Gandera keep this extraordinary music to himself for so long, where did the music originate, and was he the only one who knew it ? To answer these questions, this article examines Gandera''s personal story in relation to a series of concentric social and historical circles : his home village, its region, Balinese music institutions and networks of power, and ultimately the international community of Balinese music devotees. Gandera''s trajectory, small and perhaps insignificant in some ways, positioned him at numerous junctures of traditional, state, and international aspects of Balinese culture. Gandera''s story also sheds light on 20th century developments that run counter to the cultural status quo. Finally, it suggests that in terms of their impact on society, the actions of individuals matter at least as much as those of the institutions and cultures within which they function.

Today, turning the dark page of lebanese civil war chapter that hit the country for fifteen years, and after all these years of war, death and destruction that the country has lived despite its conflicts, the germ of sectarianism remains present in its constitutional mosaic. Where is the question that arises : will there be a postwar period for culture ? The war left deep traces of course, but civil society is mobilising and it is particularly in the arts where it finds the outcome. Moreover, diversity of the Lebanese population, composed of different ethnic and religious groups, has contributed to the cultural melting pot of a country in its perpetual artistic boil. Currently, social medias and Internet network, Web 2.0 applications and digital devices invade our daily life, and the advent of ICTs which have enabled the development of a completely new economy that is one of the digital economy, called Internet economy also, producers and consumers have changed their behavior. It is important to question the role and impact of new ICT technologies of virtual culture in Lebanon, relying on contemporary artists practices who are "committed" with their "online" status. What messages do they use to promote their ideas and art ? In this context, we identify the key players of the digital mediation to bring out the most relevant cultural practices of different institutions in Lebanon. Such are the challenges, among others, in which we are interested in our thinking. ; Aujourd'hui, en tournant la page du chapitre sombre de la guerre civile au Liban qui a frappé le pays pendant quinze ans, et après toutes ces années de guerre, de mort et de destruction que le pays a vécu malgré ses conflits, le germe du confessionnalisme demeure présent dans sa mosaïque constitutionnelle. Une question se pose : une culture de l'après-guerre est-elle possible ? La guerre a laissé des traces profondes certes, mais la société civile se mobilise et c'est particulièrement dans le domaine artistique où elle trouve une issue. Par ailleurs, la ...